The invention is utility vaults, and the invention relates more particularly to gaskets for utility vaults of the type which have glass fiber reinforced polymeric covers. Such covers typically have a rather rough undersurface and are not easily sealed with a flat gasket. For this reason, a gasket with a plurality of inner ridges and being fabricated from a relatively soft elastomer has been used. Unfortunately, the use of such gaskets can lead to the cracking and breaking of the vault cover adjacent the bolt holes. If the bolts are properly tightened, that is, tightened to a first level for each bolt and then all bolts should be torqued slightly more and in this way, the prior art gasket will work successfully. Unfortunately, in the real world, it is quite common for the bolts along one side to be tightened to a relatively high degree before the bolts on the other side are tightened at all. This leads to a bending and potential breaking of the cover adjacent the originally tightened bolt holes.